This invention relates to parachute construction, and more particularly to a parachute canopy that can be converted by the parachutist from one having a standard canopy configuration, to a wing-shaped canopy having a high lift-over-drag configuration.
Maneuverable gliding parachutes are within the state-of-the-art, with most of the past development being devoted to sport applications. Glidable parachutes have been unacceptable for military applications because inherently of the relatively long opening times in escape applications at low speeds and low altitudes deployments. Furthermore, glidable sport-type parachutes cannot withstand high opening shocks frequently encountered in deployment from military aircraft at high speed, without serious structural damage to some part of the canopy.
An effort to convert the conventional standard canopy into a gliding parachute has been successfully demonstrated by one of the present applicants in his U.S. Pat. No. 3,779,489. However, in that invention the primary purpose was to provide a steerable parachute by controlling the air exhaust from the channel formed in the canopy by the release of four of the aft suspension lines. The lift-over-drag ratio for such a parachute canopy varies from 0.3 to 0.5.
Similar modifications of the canopy drag surface to obtain a steerable parachute is also represented by U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,458,264 and 3,117,753.